G3D.dll CTD related to Virtual memory?

[Guest jahman]

...Win7 has been extremely problematic for me since I started with it - especially in the User Permissions realm....

You meain even after turning off UAC?Cheers,- jahman.

[ryanbatc 12,836]

Trust me, that's the first thing I did after installing lol.Even though I'm the admin I still have to run some programs by right clicking the shortcut, then running as admin.

Which program?

http://www.hashpling.org/asm/

[mgh 89]

Microsoft's Process Explorer and Process Viewer much more detailed information

[GaryGB 10]

Excellent discussion on an intriguing and as yet unresolved topic about this odd FSX behavior ! :( FYI: Sysinternals posted a few bug fixes for some of the apps mentioned here:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternalsBTW: I run FSX Sp2 on Windows XP SP2 32-bit (with 'selected' MS updates... NOT SP3), "/3 GB switch" @ /USERVA 2560 on a 4 GB RAM system.This test system is not overclocked.Although I don't get the G3D.dll CTD, I do have outstanding questions WRT possible "memory fragmentation" due to anomalies I see after running FSX SP2 multiple times with "Modules" (aka "DLLs") such as Instant Scenery, FSDiscover!, AFX, Airport Studio, Orbx's "[x]_Flow" components, D3D9 Antilag v1.01 (d3d9.dll with antilag.cfg).A few links I chased WRT this issue:"Is there a fix for memory fragmentation caused by Windows DLLs?"http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Development/microsoft.public.win32.programmer.kernel/2005-04/msg00462.html"Tools to view/solve Windows XP memory fragmentation"http://stackoverflow.com/questions/103622/tools-to-view-solve-windows-xp-memory-fragmentation"How to solve Memory Fragmentation"http://stackoverflow.com/questions/60871/how-to-solve-memory-fragmentationTell tale sign of memory fragmentation (as opposed to a memory leak ?)"There are a couple of different kinds of fragmentation: address space fragmentation and heap fragmentation. The former could cause failures to expand managed or unmanaged heaps, or failures to load DLLs, the latter could cause memory allocation failures"http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1487684/tell-tale-sign-of-memory-fragmentation-as-opposed-to-a-memory-leak"More on Virtual Memory, Memory Fragmentation and Leaks, and WOW64"http://blogs.msdn.com/b/david.wang/archive/2006/02/14/more-on-virtual-memory-memory-fragmentation-and-leaks-and-wow64.aspx?PageIndex=2"Memory Leak Detection in .NET"http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/Memory_Leak_Detection.aspx"MS Debug Diagnostic Tool v1.1"http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=28bd5941-c458-46f1-b24d-f60151d875a3&displaylang=en< Hmmm... now if I could just get the time to figure out the use of all these diagnostic tools ! >I also suspect a failure to successfully "flush" vertex buffers on my system with any of the (thus far recommended) settings for "STALE_BUFFER_THRESHOLD" (either the purportedly 'incorrect' value of 2147483647, or any of the purportedly 'correct' 5-1024 range... or default of 60).I normally have Windows XP Pro running 24 hours a day, and only reboot when necessary.I had disabled non-OS "app" DLL caching in WinXP Pro to see if that would eliminate any odd DLL caching of FSX modules outside the FSX task session address space even though I do still disable clearance of Windows own "system" DLLs from RAM with appropriate Registry tweaks.But after running FSX a number of times per WinXP Pro session, I still seem to incur some "yellow waxy buildup" of micro-stutters in all apps (not just FSX) in the OS that only goes away via an OS re-boot.If I refrain from running D3D9 Antilag v1.01 (d3d9.dll with antilag.cfg), I seem to not get the eventual onset of micro-stutters in all apps (not just FSX) in the OS that ordinarily would only goes away via an OS re-boot.But... I'd like to keep using D3D9 Antilag as it smooths out micro-stutters in FSX and helps maximize FPS by up an additional 25% - 40% beyond what I otherwise achieve without it, so hope to find a ways to solve these suspected problems with that "module".If I run FSX (with or without D3D9 Antilag) using higher scenery complexity settings, or with low scenery complexity settings for more than 20 minutes in ex: OrbX FTX NA PNW, I eventually lose textures in all but the simplest aircraft ("black" or "chrome" on some or all aircraft parts).NOTE: On my "test" system, this anomaly can only very rarely be cleared by zeroing and re-setting FSX Menu > Graphics > Global Texture Resolution slider; if I've flown too long, it WON'T clear.Uhm, I though the "autogen persistence bug" was largely fixed in FS9.1 patch ??? :Whistle:One might wonder if the autogen persistence that was fixed may only have been for FS "default" autogen load, and whatever implementations were put in place may not be sufficient to accommodate that large additional load imposed by 3rd party add-on custom autogen texture and associated object geometry definitions in Terrain.Cfg and Default.xml etc. :( I also sometimes wonder if all those 3rd party add-on custom autogen texture and associated object geometry definitions in Terrain.Cfg and Default.xml etc. (which, like 'Effects', are loaded once at FSX start-up and IIUC, compiled in RAM and thus not stored in a BGL on disk for "possible" use in FSX at all times regardless of where one is flying)... may be over-loading hidden buffers in FSX and/or Windows OS address space itself. :Shocked:The quest for answers continues... :( GaryGB

[ryanbatc 12,836]

Speaking of D3D....I run an external limiter and upon startup of said program it says "starting d3d render hook." Arthur wrote above his external limiter version was causing the G3D.dll CTD's. I wonder if mine has anything to do with it. I always run the limiter because I receive far less stutters compared to simply locking within FSX. Then again, it could just be another factor. I scoured the net last night and found posts since FSX came out about this problem. One user had an off the shelf PC so I doubt they were using the limiter and I doubt they overclocked it. I have no clue how the external limiter works but maybe I'll try to run without it for a few weeks.Another factor on my end is my use of a neat little network program called Synergy+It uses the network to share mouse and keyboard functionality between two PC's. For instance I run a separate tower and monitor but share the kb/mouse as my main rig. Often I "switch screens" and sometimes it does odd things, specifically changing focus from the smaller PC to my main rig. I know I've received a number of CTD's related to switching between PC's.http://synergy-foss.org/

[Tomaz Drnovsek 440]

I can reproduce g3d.dll CTD every time if I want. For me the Antilag limiter (d3d9.dll, antilag.cfg) was inducing it somehow - since I removed it no more CTDs, even after over an hour and a half long flights in PNW in PMDG J41 with AG=Very Dense, MTX + UT2 AI traffic@ 100%, Cars, Boats, Ships=40%, ASE, REX, RC4, ...... I did about 15 test flights (all exactly the same) and the results were consistent - with Antilag FPS limiter I got g3d.dll CTD on every flight on almost the same location in those conditions... and in general I was getting g3d.dll errors on almost every second flight in PNW with a bit more complex a/c - without Antilag, no more CTDs, for me, at all!I'm not saying Antilag was causing this error for me directly, but probably "helped" with "something, something" that caused it at the end.

[mgh 89]

Excellent discussion on an intriguing and as yet unresolved topic about this odd FSX behavior ! :( FYI: Sysinternals posted a few bug fixes for some of the apps mentioned here:http://technet.micro...us/sysinternalsGaryGB

Thanks. VMMAP is very informative.

[KeithyGeorge 1]

I too get these crashes and it always happens in PNW when I fly out of KSEAWould love to get a fix because at the moment I have spent a bunch of cash on what is amazing scenery but I am afard to fly in the PNW area for fear of crashes.

[wiltzei 15]

Could you mention if you using the ENB bloom effect seems to be causing CTD's on your systems, and if changing following settings make any difference?

[GLOBAL]UseEffect=(0,1) activate mod at start. In some situations HUD or startup movies may be corrupted visually because of this parameter enabled.AlternativeDepth=(0,1) increase performance of some effects, but not all videocards can use this mode at full precision, if you see large lines on the objects, disable this parameter.AllowAntialias=(0,1) enables antialiasing setting from game to be used in the mod effects. (antialiasing, multisampling, fsaa, in other words).BugFixMode=(0..5) every value fixes it's own unsopported feature or bug in driver or hardware. For drivers 169.xx and 171.xx do not set this parameter to 1. Values from 0 to 5 actually HDR texture formats: 0 (R32G32F)-high quality and middle performance, 1 (R32F)-high quality and fast, 2 (A32R32G32B32F)-high quality and very slow, 3 (R16F)-low quality and fastest, 4 (R16G16F)-low quality and fast, 5 (A16R16G16B16F)-low quality and middle performance.SkipShaderOptimization=(0,1) disables optimization when compiling shader, may help to elliminate bugs.

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I'm not saying Antilag was causing this error for me directly, but probably "helped" with "something, something" that caused it at the end.

Did you try changing the RenderAheadLimit value in antilag.cfg and what's the "maximum pre-rendered frames" value in your GPU driver settings?

[JimmiG 244]

This is one of the more interesting threads on the g3d.dll issues. I hope that eventually one of the skilled programmers/modders will be able to figure out a solution. I do some programming, but not enough to actually be locate the cause of these errors that almost everyone seems to get occasionally.First of all, people need to stop yelling "Unstable overclock!" or "User error!" whenever the game crashes for people. In general, people who overclock test their systems for stability, and while some may be running unstable overclocks, it's also very likely that restoring stock clock speeds would not help. This is especially true when the errors are fairly consistent, ie. only happens with this or that particular airplane, when approaching this particular addon airport, always pointing to the same failing module, sometimes at the same offset. System stability issues would normally be more random in nature. Ntdll errors are more likely to be caused by system stability issues. This file contains the NT kernel functions and indicate a more low-level problem like driver errors or the contents of RAM getting corrupted.g3d.dll (not to be confused with d3d.dll) is the BGL interpreter for FSX, and is directly related to FSX. It is not part of the NT kernel, DirectX subsystem or similar, it's an integral component of FSX itself. It's the subsystem that takes all the raw data of the scenery BGL's, and processes it into something that can actually be rendered. This means most of your troubleshooting efforts should be directed towards FSX, rather than drivers, temperatures, voltages etc. Crashes pointing to this dll would indicate a problem with the BGL subsystem of FSX, such as an addon breaking some rule or triggering an unknown bug. It could also be because of scenery conflicts or layer priority issues. One possible way to find the root cause might be to individually turn off individual FSX terrain features one by one, or disassemble addon sceneries in a similar manner, but first you need to find a scenario that always seems to trigger the crash.

[kevinwestlake 0]

I've seriously done everything possible and I still get them in orbx au.

[MrSpeaker 122]

This is one of the more interesting threads on the g3d.dll issues. I hope that eventually one of the skilled programmers/modders will be able to figure out a solution. I do some programming, but not enough to actually be locate the cause of these errors that almost everyone seems to get occasionally.First of all, people need to stop yelling "Unstable overclock!" or "User error!" whenever the game crashes for people. In general, people who overclock test their systems for stability, and while some may be running unstable overclocks, it's also very likely that restoring stock clock speeds would not help. This is especially true when the errors are fairly consistent, ie. only happens with this or that particular airplane, when approaching this particular addon airport, always pointing to the same failing module, sometimes at the same offset. System stability issues would normally be more random in nature. Ntdll errors are more likely to be caused by system stability issues. This file contains the NT kernel functions and indicate a more low-level problem like driver errors or the contents of RAM getting corrupted.g3d.dll (not to be confused with d3d.dll) is the BGL interpreter for FSX, and is directly related to FSX. It is not part of the NT kernel, DirectX subsystem or similar, it's an integral component of FSX itself. It's the subsystem that takes all the raw data of the scenery BGL's, and processes it into something that can actually be rendered. This means most of your troubleshooting efforts should be directed towards FSX, rather than drivers, temperatures, voltages etc. Crashes pointing to this dll would indicate a problem with the BGL subsystem of FSX, such as an addon breaking some rule or triggering an unknown bug. It could also be because of scenery conflicts or layer priority issues. One possible way to find the root cause might be to individually turn off individual FSX terrain features one by one, or disassemble addon sceneries in a similar manner, but first you need to find a scenario that always seems to trigger the crash.

The only thing that has ever caused this error for me is ORBX unfortunately.

[Drumcode 1,893]

What's even more disturbing is that there's no formal input from ORBX on this issue. They're saying they're looking into this, I'd like to know what their findings are so far.

[GHarrall 494]

just got a g3d.dll in PNW twice in the same location in ORBX PNW, Heading west from Concrete 3W5 en-route to Diamond Point 2WA1 I am getting the crash right after Whidbey Island NAS Not seen it before. Error ended with 'smart assembly required' or something. Error log stated that g3d.dll was the offender.

[TexXxan91 19]

I'm getting g3d.dll errors in both Orbx PNW and AUS. I thought I had them fixed for the most part but I've started getting them again since I've been flying the NGX around these areas. I can confirm that the ENB series mod does not cause them for me at least because I removed it and am still getting them. I am, however, no longer getting d3d9.dll related CTDs so I think ENB was causing those. I too find it a little strange how I am ONLY getting g3d.dll crashes in Orbx scenery... I hope they are looking into this.